A 2nd post for the week. "Doctor's Orders". The tweet below the text says it all...

For awhile now, Amy has had a rash develop that isn't uncommon in stem-cell transplant (SCT) patients. It's from "graft vs. host disease". I'll elaborate more next week.

Amy was told to make sure she keeps up her activity, especially for her legs. She's taking high-dose prednisone, a steroid, for her rash. It has some potentially nasty side effects at her dosage. The Dr also said that Amy might have "An overwhelming feeling that she should organize all of the drawers in the house!"

Today the Dr cut the Monday dose in half. That is good, and there should be a continual taper of the steroid over the next weeks.

One of the side effects is loss of strength, particularly in the legs. Ironic. Also possible weight gain. More irony. Amy's Dr said it might be a good idea for her to "Ride your bike, but not like you used to do!" Tuesday she pedaled for 20 minutes.

We are again met with more than a little bit of irony in this situation. As an athlete (both of us) who competed clean for her entire career, Amy is now taking a steroid that helps mitigate some of the side effects of her SCT. Irony in her receipt of numerous blood transfusions. Steroids and transfusions. Illegal for sport. Life saving in our past 7 months.

At times, it's difficult for me to not be too grumpy about some of the goings-on in the sport that provided us an opportunity to travel and race the world. We made our living as professional triathletes for 10+ years. Yes, that is "all" we did. We were "just" triathletes. That, and I coached and continue to coach a small number of athletes. During that time, we did it clean, so it is ironic now that illegal means are life saving means.

20 minutes is a far cry from a sub-5 hour Ironman bike split, but it's a little bit of exercise therapy.